Friday, March 03, 2006  

Vusi Mahlasela
Washington Post, Friday, March 3, 2006; Page C04

Vusi Mahlasela is known as "The Voice" in South Africa because of his soaring, textured tenor. He needed that powerful instrument to command the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage on Wednesday, in competition with the mediocre sound and the occasional squawking baby. Still, it's hard to complain about a free solo concert by one of South Africa's greatest artists, even if you needed to sit near the stage to hear an acceptable representation of his gorgeous singing and acoustic guitar playing.

Born 41 years ago, Mahlasela grew up in the Mamelodi township. He still lives there when he's not traveling the globe as a musician and emissary for Nelson Mandela's 46664 project to raise awareness about the global pandemic of HIV/AIDS. Politics and activism are a daily part of Mahlasela's life and common topics in his compositions, several of which he introduced with explanations, including "Our Sand, Our Land" for the displaced San people of southern portions of the continent and "Troubadour" for poet and antiapartheid activist Dennis Brutus.

Many of his songs are in English, but when Mahlasela sings in Zulu the beauty of his voice takes on a whole different shape, with the clicks and lisps of the language adding percussive textures. Mahlasela's chords, strumming and picking patterns mostly follow that of U.S. folk music; there's relatively little African-style guitar in his playing. But the simplicity of his songs allows him to croon elaborate melodies, especially on his stunning "When You Come Back," about people returning to South Africa after apartheid. Along with his interpretation of the South African folk song "Silang Mabele," which he didn't perform, the tune is Mahlasela's crowning achievement. The gospel-like whoops from the otherwise sedate audience testified to that. --Christopher Porter

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